Honors students clean up San Jacinto River

From Community Reports

Published 9:09 am, Friday, April 8, 2011

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Lone Star College-Kingwood’s Honors Student Organization worked tirelessly one day recently to clean up the San Jacinto River. The students collected several bags of trash underneath the bridge of U.S. Highway 59 and on the river’s bank. less

Lone Star College-Kingwood’s Honors Student Organization worked tirelessly one day recently to clean up the San Jacinto River. The students collected several bags of trash underneath the bridge of U.S. ... more

Honors students clean up San Jacinto River

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Lone Star College-Kingwood’s Honors Student Organization took the group’s Lowlands Project to another level. Recently, the club and its volunteers cleaned up a portion of the San Jacinto River.

“Our Lowlands Project involves the development of nature preservation in a forested area on the west side of the campus which is adjacent to the river,” said Amos Zimmermann, college student and HSO treasurer. “Cleaning up the river is simply an extension of this broader vision of caring for the natural environment which constantly faces threats from human development and the abuse of resources.”

Expanding its project to include the river took place after Zimmermann went canoeing and noticed the deplorable conditions along its banks. HSO developed a plan to clean up the river near Highway 59 in Humble. The student organization picked up trash underneath the bridge and canoed upstream to clean up the bank.

“I became inspired to include the river in our project after seeing the enormous amounts of trash,” Zimmermann said. “Not only is the trash a threat to the local ecology, but it also feeds into Lake Houston, which is a water supply for the city of Houston.”

Through HSO’s efforts, many bags of trash were collected. Although a dent was made, the club knows that it will take the community getting involved to fully clean up and maintain the San Jacinto River. For their part, the student club is looking into the possibility of adopting the river.

“We received attention from many people who were fishing and our hope is that our efforts left them inspired to exercise stewardship of the natural environment,” he said. “I am truly amazed that by taking one afternoon, we were able to make such a tangible difference in our community.”

In some ways, community businesses have already stepped up to the plate. HSO received a donation of trash bags, water bottles and gloves from the Porter Walmart, and Waste Connections of Texas sent out a truck and a driver to pick up all of the collected trash for free.

Along with its Lowlands Project, the HSO club also collects books for its Third World Books Project, which helps supply textbooks and literary resources to students in Third World countries. The students also participate annually in Relay For Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and have worked with LSC-Tomball to clean up their wetlands.

For more information on the Honors Student Organization, contact Dr. David Putz at 281-312-1710 or email him at David.W.Putz@LoneStar.edu.